Better Than You
10-17-2006, 02:13 AM
October 16, 2006 - In the pantheon of misrepresented software from the 21st century, Rockstar's Bully (http://ps2.ign.com/objects/746/746536.html) is certainly one of the most targeted. Hailed as "Grand Theft Auto in High School" and a "Columbine Simulator" by opponents who have never played it, Bully has been one of the most hotly-contested videogames to come along in years. Parental protests and judicial subpoenas (not to mention an incredibly bizarre televised debate on G4) are but a few of the many different ways in which Bully's prerelease has been argued.
But let's get to the real issue... were all these forecasted warnings and displays of moral grandstanding really warranted? And from an apolitical person's point of view, is the game even good enough to deserve this much press to begin with?
<!--start image table --><!--end image table -->The answer to the first question is "No" -- Bully isn't any more inappropriate than an episode of Smallville or Veronica Mars. While the game is surely packed with an abundance of off-color humor and some gross situations (the cook sneezing into a stew comprised of month-old meat is probably the worst), the material here doesn't stray too far out of line. Granted, there may be moments where one's personal beliefs are challenged (re: players can "learn" to kiss better in order to restore their health, bullies can be humiliated with Indian burns and dead arms, and Jimmy does have the option to kiss specific boys just as he can girls), but again, this content is no different than what you'd see in any of the teen dramas currently airing on television. That explanation may sound acceptable to you or it may not, but either way, there it is.
Question number two benefits from an answer that's far less controversial, "Yes, Bully is good enough to deserve its heavy press." Though we've seen this sort of open-ended mission-based world design from Rockstar before, the team responsible (Rockstar Vancouver, formerly Barking Dog Studios of Homeworld: Cataclysm fame), has tweaked the gameplay enough to make it a unique experience... familiar yes, but unique nonetheless.
<!--start image table --><!--end image table -->If you've played Grand Theft Auto before, or any of its clones, then you should have no problem picking this up and playing it right away (it does run on the GTA engine, after all). The mechanics, storytelling techniques, and overall "feel" of the game are all immediately recognizable -- with a mish-mash of elements taken from most of Rockstar's previous PS2 efforts like San Andreas, Manhunt, and The Warriors. One way in which Bully is different, however, is with its scope. You're not traversing an entire state like you were in San Andreas, nor are you finding new and brutal ways to kill or maim your opponents. In Bully, there is no human death; there isn't any blood (gray or otherwise), and players don't carjack or fly airplanes. This is a tale about the township of Bullworth and its particularly rough scholastic system; everything about the experience has been scaled down to fit that ideal.
Of course, having a smaller scale than previous Rockstar titles doesn't mean that Bully is therefore small. Compared to most other action games, the story of Jimmy Hopkins is downright enormous. Boasting more than 100 NPCs, multiple commercial and residential neighborhoods, a body of water, secret areas, and an outsized school grounds, Bullworth and its surroundings gives players plenty to do. In fact, it isn't a stretch to proclaim Bully as one of the largest and deepest games you'll find this year.
But just having space and an abundance of options isn't enough -- first and foremost, the game has to be fun or it's all just a big waste. Happily, Bully is fun and will keep you busy with a number of addictive and enthralling mini-games. The real trick to discovering them, however, is to get past the first chapter (of five). Built as a tutorial, Bully's initial moments don't do the rest of the experience justice -- which admittedly, will probably put off more action-oriented players because of its slow start (roughly three to six hours).
But once the second chapter begins, things really open up. Teaching you how to play the game is no longer a priority and actually letting you do it is what matters. Protagonist Jimmy Hopkins can take part in practically every activity you'd imagine a teen doing in his spare time -- bicycle racing, skateboarding, picking up girls -- these are all things our young entrepreneur can do. Jimmy can even take jobs to earn extra money (used to buy food and clothes) and work at the local burger joint, run errands for classmates and businesses, mow lawns in upscale neighborhoods, or even take a paper route. There are plenty of other things that young Mr. Hopkins can do as well, but discovering them on your own is all part of the fun.
<!--start image table --><!--end image table -->For the majority of the adventure, Bully (http://ps2.ign.com/objects/746/746536.html)'s main missions and side jobs are all played out the same way: via third-person fetch-questing and hand-to-hand pressure-sensitive combat (laid out similarly to the mechanics found in last year's Warriors). Truth be told, you'll spend most of your time doing the former as locating and delivering packages, escorting friends, or exploring the township of Bullworth takes priority over beating people up. When the time comes to throw down, however, you'll have plenty of tools to go with. In addition to the basic set of punches and kicks that's equipped from the start, you'll also be able to upgrade your fighting acumen by attending Gym Class, delivering transistor radios to an old Korean War vet, or by hopping into a boxing ring with a bunch of preppies.
In short, Bully's combat is entertaining to perform. By the end of the game, Jimmy is a well-rounded anti-troublemaking machine who can give better than he can get. Part of the reason that fighting works so well is because you're not limited to only kicks, punches, and throws -- Jimmy can also make use of a number of different weapons including eggs, firecrackers, stink bombs, cricket bats, fire extinguishers, and even a slingshot with a sight-scope on it. Using either your hands or your weapons feels like second nature after roughly 10 to 20 minutes, and it only gets better from there.
<!--start image table --><!--end image table -->Strong combat is fine and good, but without enemies to test your skills against, it doesn't mean much. Luckily, Bully has those too and each faction you'll run up against (Nerds, Bullies, Jocks, Greasers, Preppies, and Townies) has their own unique fighting style with particular strengths and weaknesses. Add in a solid number of boss fights, an aggressive AI, and the ability to enlist helpers to fight alongside you, and you have everything you need for a heck of a brawling time. The only real hitch in this department is a lack of difficulty for gamers of advanced (or higher) skills -- Bully is by no means difficult.
Obviously, the real trick is finding the time necessary to seek out new missions and battle would-be oppressors. At first, it seems like an unlikely thing to do -- as attending both morning and afternoon classes is a must for Jimmy if he doesn't want to get busted for truancy or learn more advanced skills. It's with this system that Bully deserves kudos and criticisms simultaneously.
On the plus side, it's great to see Rockstar promoting the need for students to attend class by making them useful to in-game skill building. Not diminishing the need to actually learn while in school is a smart move by the designers. But how much players will actually learn is the disappointment. After you've bested five sessions in all six classes, you don't usually need to go back to teachers on a regular basis. This may be ideal for finding that aforementioned time to go out and find side-missions, but it left us feeling like the scholastic component was under-realized. Giving users an incentive to keep going back again and again would have been a better move than just making them obsolete once beaten.
Still, Bully's classroom sequences are a lot of fun while they last. Made up of mini-games that borrow elements from basic word scrambles and the old coin-op game, Qix, they're amusing little diversions from the typical face-pounding you'd expect from most actioners.
There are plenty of other distractions worth mentioning too. Of particular note are the fake arcade games that you can hop into and play at various points. Whether it's 2D or 3D driving titles called Future Racer (which aren't very good) or the awesome test of reflexes known as ConSumo, most old-school genres are represented in some form or another. There's even a traveling carnival you can visit, complete with attractions you can ride and familiar carnival games that earn you tickets which can be traded for prizes. Topping it all off is a Punch-out homage that kicks in while playing through the boxing sections -- lots of fun that is.
What stands out above all else in Bully (http://ps2.ign.com/objects/746/746536.html), though, is its storyline and presentation. As has become the standard for Rockstar titles, the characterization and humor in this game is top notch. Bully is easily one of the funniest PlayStation 2 titles we've ever seen and is one of the few pieces of software out there than can legitimately be called a "comedy." Who would have thought that growing with Jimmy Hopkins as he navigates the hectic social atmosphere of an upscale private academy would result in one of the best plots of the season? We'll admit that we didn't think it would turn out that way ourselves, but now we stand corrected. Bully has a seriously poignant story with great dialogue and strong characters.
<!--start image table --><!--end image table -->Another important aspect to the game's presentation can be found with its audio. Though its press materials boast more than 39,000 lines of conversation (which, unbelievably suffers from major repetition during free exploration), Bully's soundtrack is what had our ears standing up to take notice. Subtle, mischievous, and entirely original, the score composed by Shawn Lee and company is fantastic and does a perfect job of capturing the mood of Bullworth Academy. Good work from the audio crew to be sure.
Bully's visuals are just a step below its acoustic presentation. Because of the game's narrower focus and fewer characters, the Grand Theft Auto engine benefits from a level of detail that it hasn't seen before. Buildings, indoor locations and outside environments, weather effect -- they're all of the utmost quality and help show off Rockstar's best-looking PS2 game since Manhunt. Sadly, the character animation does come across as a little stiff and the camera problems rear their ugly head when in close-quarters or taking narrow turns (especially when riding bikes). Even so, Bully looks great and it's made even better by an exceptional art style.
With all of the praise we've given Bully compared to its criticisms, one might wonder if there's anything significant that gave us problems, and there was -- most especially the large amount of backtracking that players will have to undertake once they've begun their fun. With a large world and multiple mission start points, players will spend a colossal amount of time hopping from one end of the map to another even if they focus solely on the story-related objectives. There were a few rare instances where we encountered bugs in flag activation too -- that is, we had activated a couple of missions which stopped working mid-way for no reason. The bug ratio wasn't bad considering the length of our experience (roughly five or six times in about 40 hours of play), but with nearly three years of development time and a smaller scale than GTA, it was a surprising sight to see.
Closing Comments
Bully is an interesting game. Leading up to its release, it didn't receive the gameplay coverage or high-end expectations from insiders that Grand Theft Auto usually does, and yet, somehow kept that franchise's reputation for excessive violence and adult behavior. That's why I think that, in a lot of ways, Bully is going to surprise people with what it is -- ie: much better and funnier than most were giving it credit for, while coming across as much tamer than those who feared it expected it to be. Regardless, Bully is a great, well-crafted action game that has one of the best senses of humor around and dozens and dozens of hours of fun.
But let's get to the real issue... were all these forecasted warnings and displays of moral grandstanding really warranted? And from an apolitical person's point of view, is the game even good enough to deserve this much press to begin with?
<!--start image table --><!--end image table -->The answer to the first question is "No" -- Bully isn't any more inappropriate than an episode of Smallville or Veronica Mars. While the game is surely packed with an abundance of off-color humor and some gross situations (the cook sneezing into a stew comprised of month-old meat is probably the worst), the material here doesn't stray too far out of line. Granted, there may be moments where one's personal beliefs are challenged (re: players can "learn" to kiss better in order to restore their health, bullies can be humiliated with Indian burns and dead arms, and Jimmy does have the option to kiss specific boys just as he can girls), but again, this content is no different than what you'd see in any of the teen dramas currently airing on television. That explanation may sound acceptable to you or it may not, but either way, there it is.
Question number two benefits from an answer that's far less controversial, "Yes, Bully is good enough to deserve its heavy press." Though we've seen this sort of open-ended mission-based world design from Rockstar before, the team responsible (Rockstar Vancouver, formerly Barking Dog Studios of Homeworld: Cataclysm fame), has tweaked the gameplay enough to make it a unique experience... familiar yes, but unique nonetheless.
<!--start image table --><!--end image table -->If you've played Grand Theft Auto before, or any of its clones, then you should have no problem picking this up and playing it right away (it does run on the GTA engine, after all). The mechanics, storytelling techniques, and overall "feel" of the game are all immediately recognizable -- with a mish-mash of elements taken from most of Rockstar's previous PS2 efforts like San Andreas, Manhunt, and The Warriors. One way in which Bully is different, however, is with its scope. You're not traversing an entire state like you were in San Andreas, nor are you finding new and brutal ways to kill or maim your opponents. In Bully, there is no human death; there isn't any blood (gray or otherwise), and players don't carjack or fly airplanes. This is a tale about the township of Bullworth and its particularly rough scholastic system; everything about the experience has been scaled down to fit that ideal.
Of course, having a smaller scale than previous Rockstar titles doesn't mean that Bully is therefore small. Compared to most other action games, the story of Jimmy Hopkins is downright enormous. Boasting more than 100 NPCs, multiple commercial and residential neighborhoods, a body of water, secret areas, and an outsized school grounds, Bullworth and its surroundings gives players plenty to do. In fact, it isn't a stretch to proclaim Bully as one of the largest and deepest games you'll find this year.
But just having space and an abundance of options isn't enough -- first and foremost, the game has to be fun or it's all just a big waste. Happily, Bully is fun and will keep you busy with a number of addictive and enthralling mini-games. The real trick to discovering them, however, is to get past the first chapter (of five). Built as a tutorial, Bully's initial moments don't do the rest of the experience justice -- which admittedly, will probably put off more action-oriented players because of its slow start (roughly three to six hours).
But once the second chapter begins, things really open up. Teaching you how to play the game is no longer a priority and actually letting you do it is what matters. Protagonist Jimmy Hopkins can take part in practically every activity you'd imagine a teen doing in his spare time -- bicycle racing, skateboarding, picking up girls -- these are all things our young entrepreneur can do. Jimmy can even take jobs to earn extra money (used to buy food and clothes) and work at the local burger joint, run errands for classmates and businesses, mow lawns in upscale neighborhoods, or even take a paper route. There are plenty of other things that young Mr. Hopkins can do as well, but discovering them on your own is all part of the fun.
<!--start image table --><!--end image table -->For the majority of the adventure, Bully (http://ps2.ign.com/objects/746/746536.html)'s main missions and side jobs are all played out the same way: via third-person fetch-questing and hand-to-hand pressure-sensitive combat (laid out similarly to the mechanics found in last year's Warriors). Truth be told, you'll spend most of your time doing the former as locating and delivering packages, escorting friends, or exploring the township of Bullworth takes priority over beating people up. When the time comes to throw down, however, you'll have plenty of tools to go with. In addition to the basic set of punches and kicks that's equipped from the start, you'll also be able to upgrade your fighting acumen by attending Gym Class, delivering transistor radios to an old Korean War vet, or by hopping into a boxing ring with a bunch of preppies.
In short, Bully's combat is entertaining to perform. By the end of the game, Jimmy is a well-rounded anti-troublemaking machine who can give better than he can get. Part of the reason that fighting works so well is because you're not limited to only kicks, punches, and throws -- Jimmy can also make use of a number of different weapons including eggs, firecrackers, stink bombs, cricket bats, fire extinguishers, and even a slingshot with a sight-scope on it. Using either your hands or your weapons feels like second nature after roughly 10 to 20 minutes, and it only gets better from there.
<!--start image table --><!--end image table -->Strong combat is fine and good, but without enemies to test your skills against, it doesn't mean much. Luckily, Bully has those too and each faction you'll run up against (Nerds, Bullies, Jocks, Greasers, Preppies, and Townies) has their own unique fighting style with particular strengths and weaknesses. Add in a solid number of boss fights, an aggressive AI, and the ability to enlist helpers to fight alongside you, and you have everything you need for a heck of a brawling time. The only real hitch in this department is a lack of difficulty for gamers of advanced (or higher) skills -- Bully is by no means difficult.
Obviously, the real trick is finding the time necessary to seek out new missions and battle would-be oppressors. At first, it seems like an unlikely thing to do -- as attending both morning and afternoon classes is a must for Jimmy if he doesn't want to get busted for truancy or learn more advanced skills. It's with this system that Bully deserves kudos and criticisms simultaneously.
On the plus side, it's great to see Rockstar promoting the need for students to attend class by making them useful to in-game skill building. Not diminishing the need to actually learn while in school is a smart move by the designers. But how much players will actually learn is the disappointment. After you've bested five sessions in all six classes, you don't usually need to go back to teachers on a regular basis. This may be ideal for finding that aforementioned time to go out and find side-missions, but it left us feeling like the scholastic component was under-realized. Giving users an incentive to keep going back again and again would have been a better move than just making them obsolete once beaten.
Still, Bully's classroom sequences are a lot of fun while they last. Made up of mini-games that borrow elements from basic word scrambles and the old coin-op game, Qix, they're amusing little diversions from the typical face-pounding you'd expect from most actioners.
There are plenty of other distractions worth mentioning too. Of particular note are the fake arcade games that you can hop into and play at various points. Whether it's 2D or 3D driving titles called Future Racer (which aren't very good) or the awesome test of reflexes known as ConSumo, most old-school genres are represented in some form or another. There's even a traveling carnival you can visit, complete with attractions you can ride and familiar carnival games that earn you tickets which can be traded for prizes. Topping it all off is a Punch-out homage that kicks in while playing through the boxing sections -- lots of fun that is.
What stands out above all else in Bully (http://ps2.ign.com/objects/746/746536.html), though, is its storyline and presentation. As has become the standard for Rockstar titles, the characterization and humor in this game is top notch. Bully is easily one of the funniest PlayStation 2 titles we've ever seen and is one of the few pieces of software out there than can legitimately be called a "comedy." Who would have thought that growing with Jimmy Hopkins as he navigates the hectic social atmosphere of an upscale private academy would result in one of the best plots of the season? We'll admit that we didn't think it would turn out that way ourselves, but now we stand corrected. Bully has a seriously poignant story with great dialogue and strong characters.
<!--start image table --><!--end image table -->Another important aspect to the game's presentation can be found with its audio. Though its press materials boast more than 39,000 lines of conversation (which, unbelievably suffers from major repetition during free exploration), Bully's soundtrack is what had our ears standing up to take notice. Subtle, mischievous, and entirely original, the score composed by Shawn Lee and company is fantastic and does a perfect job of capturing the mood of Bullworth Academy. Good work from the audio crew to be sure.
Bully's visuals are just a step below its acoustic presentation. Because of the game's narrower focus and fewer characters, the Grand Theft Auto engine benefits from a level of detail that it hasn't seen before. Buildings, indoor locations and outside environments, weather effect -- they're all of the utmost quality and help show off Rockstar's best-looking PS2 game since Manhunt. Sadly, the character animation does come across as a little stiff and the camera problems rear their ugly head when in close-quarters or taking narrow turns (especially when riding bikes). Even so, Bully looks great and it's made even better by an exceptional art style.
With all of the praise we've given Bully compared to its criticisms, one might wonder if there's anything significant that gave us problems, and there was -- most especially the large amount of backtracking that players will have to undertake once they've begun their fun. With a large world and multiple mission start points, players will spend a colossal amount of time hopping from one end of the map to another even if they focus solely on the story-related objectives. There were a few rare instances where we encountered bugs in flag activation too -- that is, we had activated a couple of missions which stopped working mid-way for no reason. The bug ratio wasn't bad considering the length of our experience (roughly five or six times in about 40 hours of play), but with nearly three years of development time and a smaller scale than GTA, it was a surprising sight to see.
Closing Comments
Bully is an interesting game. Leading up to its release, it didn't receive the gameplay coverage or high-end expectations from insiders that Grand Theft Auto usually does, and yet, somehow kept that franchise's reputation for excessive violence and adult behavior. That's why I think that, in a lot of ways, Bully is going to surprise people with what it is -- ie: much better and funnier than most were giving it credit for, while coming across as much tamer than those who feared it expected it to be. Regardless, Bully is a great, well-crafted action game that has one of the best senses of humor around and dozens and dozens of hours of fun.